One Big Union or Transformed AF of L? (Haywood–Hillquit Debate)

One Big Union or Transformed AF of L? (Haywood–Hillquit Debate)

Author: Davenport, Tim (1961– )

Year: 1912

One Big Union or Transformed AF of L? A Debate on Socialist Party Strategy Between William D. Haywood and Morris Hillquit, New York City, January 11, 1912 Edited with introduction and footnotes by Tim Davenport Published by 1000 Flowers Publishing, Corvallis, OR, March 2026 Stenographic report of the January 11, 1912 debate between Socialist Party factional leaders Big Bill Haywood, of the pro-IWW left wing, and Morris Hillquit, of the anti-IWW regulars, held in the great hall of Cooper Union, New York City. The proposition formally debated was “What Shall the Attitude of the Socialist Party Be Toward the Economic Organization of the Workers?” Both Haywood and Hillquit weighed in for industrial unionism rather than craft unionism, with Haywood advocating recognition of the dual union IWW and Hillquit continuation of the Socialist Party’s official policy of boring within the American Federation of Labor to build Socialist Party support, with the recognition that the union movement was gradually evolving towards industrial union through amalgamation on its own. This material appeared in serialized form in the Chicago Daily Socialist, volume 6, no. 70–75 (Jan. 18–25, 1912), page 6 of